UNITED STATES IMMIGRATION LAWS

I. INTRODUCTION

The threat of terrorism triggered Congressional and administrative actions that have dramatically changed United States immigration laws. The most significant change arose from the Homeland Security Act of 2002 that transferred immigration enforcement and adjudication services functions from the now defunct Immigration & Naturalization Service into the Department of Homeland Security. Security and enforcement concerns have taken priority over timely adjudications of applications for immigration status submitted by employers for foreign national employees as well as by U.S. citizens for their relatives. Immigration laws are constantly changing.

This is a heavily regulated field with laws intended both to protect the United States workforce and to unify families. Congress must juggle competing interests in determining immigration policy: employers want to be able to hire skilled foreign labor, while labor unions and professional societies want to improve wages and working conditions for employees; immigrant families want to bring their relatives to the U.S., while the quota system lags ever farther behind; a global economy demands decreasing barriers, while an influx of unlawful immigration and the threat of terrorism results in tightening controls. The U.S. Citizenship & Immigration Services (CIS) concentrates on the intent of the individual: Is he/she an intending immigrant or nonimmigrant? The wrong answer might result in a return trip to the home country. Nonimmigrant status is temporary: one may only remain in the U.S. for a limited period of time. Immigrant status, commonly called "green card" status, signifies that a person has been granted permanent resident status and may reside in the U.S. indefinitely. These government websites provide useful information about immigration laws: www.uscis.gov (U.S. Citizenship & Immigration Services) (U.S. Department of Labor) (U.S. Department of State) (Texas Workforce Commission)